ISLAMABAD (AP) — Floods Seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed hundreds of people and injured a “substantial number”, a Taliban official said on Saturday, without providing exact figures.
The floods mainly affected the northern region of the country. Baghlan province bore the brunt of the floods on Friday, with authorities preliminarily reporting at least 50 people dead and properties destroyed in several districts.
In neighboring Takhar province, state media outlets reported that flooding killed at least 20 people.
Zabihullah Mujahidthe Taliban government’s top spokesman posted on social media platform X on Saturday, saying that “hundreds…succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number suffered injuries.”
Mujahid highlighted the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit. He added that “the extensive devastation” had resulted in “significant financial losses.”
He further said that the government ordered the mobilization of all available resources to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the bodies of the deceased.
The Taliban Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the country’s air force has already started evacuating people in Baghlan and has so far rescued a large number of people trapped in the floods and transported a hundred injured people to military hospitals in the region.
Officials previously said that in AprilBefore Friday’s floods, at least 70 people died due to Heavy rain and flash floods in the country. Around 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools were also damaged.
